Fauxmerican

I remember Sarah Palin talking about "Real America." Real America thinks this, Real America wants that. I remember thinking, "there's no Real America. There's only America."

Then Donald was elected as president of Real America, and millions of Real Americans cheered. I realized then that the ideal of the United States of America, which I've held since I was a child, was wrong. I had completely misunderstood my country.

This morning, a journalist from my hometown local paper, The Los Angeles Times, was barred from today's White House press briefing, along with others. The "paper of record" for my lifetime as an Angeleno is fake. So-called judges are fake. My America is fake. My patriotism is fake. As a Californian, Real America's president considers me the enemy. I'm the Coastal Elite. I'm an intellectual.

The president of Real America goaded his followers to beat those who spoke out against him. He goaded them into chanting things like Build the Wall! Drain the Swamp! Lock her up! He fueled their nationalism, their racism, their jingoism, all in the name of making Real America great again. Real Americans believed he could resurrect industries which progress has set aside.

Real America is a corporate profit machine fueled by the blood, sweat and tears of gullible masses of Real Americans. People angry at progress, angrily selected a billionaire to rule over them while he removes regulations and hands our future to corporations on a gold platter.

But if I'm not a Real American, what am I? I'm not fake – I walk and talk, people have seen me and interacted with me. I'm real. So I guess it's the American part that's different. America has disappeared under the shadow of Real America. I get glimpses of her, like when the Army refuses a request for tanks at the Inaugural parade, or when park rangers tweet out global warming stats when their government account is silenced, or when scientists protest in the streets.

I hang onto those moments. They alone give me hope for our nation's future.